Nieuwegein, May 25, 2023

New guideline for uniform assessment of precast fire-resistant storage facilities

The United Suppliers Prefab Storage Facilities (VLPO) has issued the Assessment Guideline for Uniform assessment of precast fireproof storage facilities for hazardous substances. The assessment guideline is intended to meet the requirements of PGS 15 (Storage of Packaged Hazardous Substances). With the assessment guideline can be used to determine whether a storage facility meets requirements around fire, occupational and environmental safety.

The assessment guideline was compiled at the request of VLPO by Efectis Nederland bv and Peutz bv.Efectis is a specialist in fire investigation, testing, engineering and modeling. Peutz advises in the fields of fire safety, noise control, building physics, among others, environmental technology and facade engineering. In the development of the guideline The following suppliers are involved; Anlag International, Bumax, Denios, Hiltra Barneveld and Kok Environmental Storage Systems. The new guideline defines how the prefabricated storage systems, which members of VLPO supply must be properly assessed. With the introduction of PGS 15 a number of years ago, the need for clarity on how the requirements could be met. be met. The regulations led to a lack of clarity competent authority, customers and insurers, among others. In response the suppliers of prefab storage facilities, united in VLPO, joined forces In response, providers of precast storage facilities, united in VLPO, joined forces to create a uniform and clear assessment guideline.

'It is positive that the member companies of VLPO member companies despite being each other's competitors are working together to have the assessment guideline compiled,' says Frans van der Brugh, branch manager of VLPO at Koninklijke Metaalunie. 'The companies are critical towards each other, but this does raise the level of safety significantly. And This will enable the environmental services, among others, to provide market parties in an unambiguous way to assess the implementation of the PGS 15. With this, the safety of people and the environment is at the forefront for the members of VLPO. first and foremost."

Confidence

"Several companies issued reports, which the authority questioned. The regulations also do not always match practice. The new assessment guideline provides transparency and uniformity,' believes Cindy Beckers, manager/senior advisor expertise at Efectis and co-author of the guideline. with this guideline a standard that can serve as a reference point for other parties. can serve as a reference point for other parties. It creates mutual trust in the market. It eliminates all kinds of misinterpretations and discussions. The customers are the big winner.'

Ing. Christiaan Dahrs, project manager at Peutz and co-author of the guideline notes that the government makes rules but does not describe their implementation of them. 'For a PGS 15 storage facility, the requirements are laid down, but not how parties must meet those requirements and how that must be documented and communicated. That produced piles of separate reports and assessments, which made it opaque to the customer and led to unnecessary delays. Those problems are eliminated by the assessment guideline eliminate those problems," Dahrs said.

Blueprint

The next few years are dominated by the implementation of the guideline, Beckers says. Interested parties, such as the competent authority, read along, receive applications for it and assess. Over time, acceptance of the guideline among the competent authority - and thus customer confidence." Dahrs: "The guideline is a blueprint for upcoming projects, think of the storage of lithium batteries. The preliminary work for that assessment guideline is done with this."

United Suppliers. Prefab Storage Systems is the trade association of suppliers of precast storage facilities for the storage of hazardous materials who, through their their own assessment guideline to improve safety in the fire-resistant storage of hazardous materials.